Won't you consider registering with our site? You can unlock more features of the site, leave comments and even elect to receive our "Weekly Shoveling" - a summary of all the coolest stories added each week!
It's totally free and takes a few seconds. We don't give out your e-mail or personal information to anybody! Try it!

In the last few years, a number of social constructs seem to have become so engorged and dramatic, I desperately want to assume they've peaked and thus, offer up my hopeful plea that perhaps these things should decline if not begin to disappear from our social radar in the coming year. Read on as I'm sure not everyone will agree with me...

"REALITY" TELEVISION

I know it's foolish to think that "reality tv" is going to go away. That cat's out of the bag, but can we stop pretending that it's anything more than pretend?

If you think those people and scenarios on Pawn Stars, Storage Wars, Hardcore Pawn, and American Pickers are real, look behind your ass and see if YOU have a wireless mic attached to you when someone comes knocking on your door. Of course that 1962 pinball machine is worth four grand because some fat dumbshit says it is. Have you been to the Pawn Stars location in Vegas? Those guys aren't there. It's a nice racket. And even in the rare chance that actual spontaneous human interaction is videotaped, it's ultimately in the hands of the editors as to who they want to make look good or ugly. And it's all about creating the most appealing train wreck, racial stereotype, faux fight or once-in-a-lifetime-deal each and every week.

When I watch these reality shows, it's now almost like watching the culture of another planet, where someone can actually charge six thousand dollars to repaint an old coca-cola cooler.

It was inevitable that the line between show content and advertising was going to be blurred, but now we have businesses that start as television shows. Just about every reality tv show on now has a corresponding retail outlet and elaborate merchandising setup. Do you feel your chain being yanked yet? The producers of these shows are wise to the "star factor" and make new participants sign away huge rights to their own lives to participate in reality tv shows. The producers of shows like American Idol own and control the contestants' material and lives to a huge degree beyond what you see on tv. Even ridiculous ghost-hunting reality shows now have contracts that give the show's producers a percentage of income these people make outside of the tv show. The whole thing is one big commercial now.

And then there's all the environment-raping shows that are such big hits: Loggers, Deadliest Catch, Ice Road Truckers, Gold Rush, etc.. The 800 pound elephant in the room that nobody talks about is that all these people are profiting by pilfering all the land's natural resources they can get and leaving a trail of engine parts and hydraulic fluid behind. And the plot for every show, every week is the same. Start up your equipment, shit, something broke. Get out the welder and fix it. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. f*ck up the planet, eradicate an ecosystem, and go home to your family (tight shot on the American flag waving in the front yard) and have some apple pie. Good bless the USA!

THE ANTI-BULLYING MOVEMENT

What has happened to our society where everyone has now become a delicate little flower that wilts in the face of even the slightest look of disapproval?

I'm not talking about physical abuse. There will never be an acceptable excuse for someone to physically attack an innocent person. But words.... mere words... are another matter entirely.

It seems an entire generation has now grown up without being told, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." And instead of recognizing this crucial element of reality, that we all will inevitably, unavoidably, be surrounded by people with differing opinions and levels of patience and toleration for our particular proclivities, people now unravel and implode into quivering balls of discontent, now demanding that the remainder of the world bend around the cracks in their fragile sense of self.

Puh-leeze. You'd have better luck asking a polar bear to become vegan.

Like it or not, it's human nature to judge and criticize. It's genetically-programmed into us to be afraid of things we don't understand. In a perfect world, there would be no prejudice, but we have to be realistic and understand that the best approach towards maintaining understanding, peace, harmony and mutual-respect is by respecting other people (but note that respect is earned as well), and not trying to sanction other people for merely having an ignorant opinion. Address the message; not the messenger. And grow a thicker skin and deal with the fact that the world is full of petty people who criticize others to deflect attention from their own insecurities. They will get what's coming to them without you turning it into a hyper-dramatic pity-party.

So man up. Gay people? Someone calls you a "fag?" Call them an ignorant idiot, and let it go. There. That's one less whiny 10 minute YouTube video the rest of us don't have to watch. And with all due respect, if it's justifiable to kill oneself because the majority of our community doesn't approve of our lifestyle choices, we'd all be dead. Man up. If you want respect, earn it. You can't demand it unconditionally, especially from homophobic morons.

FAUX CONTROVERSY

It's the twenty-first century people. It's time to stop pretending that certain scientific ideals are "controversial" in any legitimate sense, when they in fact, are not. The jury is not out on evolution, nor man-made global climate change. These are factual realities that our culture should no longer be debating. If you have a friend who insists man cannot irreversibly f*ck up the environment, or that the earth is 6000 years old, you're not doing him/her a favor by tolerating such ignorance. You are actually perpetrating the continued propagation of such BS by not challenging such boneheaded perspectives, and it needs to stop. The truth is, there's nothing wrong with calling some opinions, "100% moronic." Yes, everybody is entitled to their opinion, but not all opinions deserve equal respect and consideration. Please remember this, and take it into account when I suggest it's not only appropriate, but much appreciated when in certain scenarios, you characterize someone as, "batshiat crazy."

THE ABDICATION OF PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

If there is a recurring theme apparent in my evaluation of the decline of human society in the twenty-first century is revolves around the ongoing premise that nothing ever seems to be "our fault." It's always somebody else that's responsible everything that troubles us.

No institution has done more to fuel this (aside from politics which I'll get to later) than the pharmaceutical industry. No matter what your il, there's a pill. The pseudo-scientific term of "syndrome" used to describe something that otherwise cannot be nailed down in a legitimate sense, is the impetus for the mass marketing of a zillion unproven substances that promise to fix whatever you think you might have, from restless legs to dry eyes to fatigue, to having annoying children. There's a pill for that. Here's a support group for you. It's not your fault.

One thing I've noticed is that the degree to which the mainstream is willing to blame themselves for various problems is inversely proportional to the amount of income they have. The more money you have, the less likely it's your fault, and instead you merely need to buy something to remedy the situation. What? You don't have any money? Well get off your lazy ass and do something about it instead of expecting someone or something else to fix your own problems!

THE PROMOTION AND CHAMPIONING OF EXTREME SELFISHNESS

I don't know if you've noticed it, but it seems Madison Avenue has hit a slight wall in terms of
their never-ending quest to convince us that we need more crap than we could possibly ever use. They've tried social peer pressure and "the cool factor"; they've tried using fear and scare tactics to get you to buy stuff; even the old standby of sex and love is becoming tired. Of course when you purchase that Mazda Underling with the 1.7 liter V4 you're going to have women trying to pry down your electric tinted windows at every street corner, but the sales aren't coming in fast enough.

What's going on?

Aside from having less money and means these days, maybe consumers have found their long lost conscience? When mom has to choose between a $200 Clarisonic spinning face brush instead of baby formula, you need some special sauce to lube the narrow confines of her shameway to snag her un-disposable income for your Chinese-made glam-tool.

The advertising industry's new technique seems to be the glorification and promotion of selfishness as the impetus to push you over the edge and "get what you deserve" and everyone else be damned -- literally.

No market is safe from this new technique. Even cheap-ass candy bars are employing slogans like, "Two for me, None for you" and "Better not lay a finger on my Butterfinger." How dare ANYONE consider for a moment that I'm going to share my artificially-chocolate-covered corn syrup stick with them? Go f*ck yourself, freeloader, this is mine!

Hey, remember when McDonald's used to say, "You deserve a break today?" Only slightly self-absorbed.. Now it's not just about thinking about yourself, but manipulating others to get what you want...

According to McDonald's lying your ass off is "smart"

BLAMING POLITICAL PARTIES

Just f*cking stop it. Republicans. Democrats. One side is screwing up the country; one side is trying to save it. Ignorant, bone-headed rants about how "the 2-party system is destroying America.." blah.. blah.. blah.. It's all bullshit.

The notion that "the other guy" is to blame for this-or-that is ridiculous and wrong. You know who's to blame? YOU!

Because if you're like most Americans you stupidly think that the sum-total of your civic duty to make our country shit greatness out of every orifice and create zillions of jobs and turn every middle-class insurance agent into another Rockefeller is to press a button in a booth once every four years, you're a naive idiot. *whew* That was hard work. You must be tired. Sit down and have a Capris Sun and bitch about how Obama or Bush has ruined the chances of you getting that private island you wanted. f*cking repblitard democraps!

The truth is, a 3rd party, a 5th party, or a dozen additional viable parties wouldn't solve the problem. If a third party became viable, what's to think it would be magically-immune from the same corruptive influences that plague the existing major parties?

Until the populace starts fixating on issues and solutions, instead of attacking the flavor-of-the-week talking-head strawman politician, things aren't going to change.

You want change? Get on the phone right now to your Congressman, Senator, Representative -- you can reach them and influence them. If the only time you're politically-active is on election day, you've lost, because every other day there's some knob working for AIG, Halliburton, Shell, AIPAC, or Blue Cross taking them out to lunch and making them go their way.

Until the American people start taking responsibility instead of blaming everybody else for what they don't like, nothing will change. How about we start taking responsibility?

Got everything but one rightPosted by Paco on 2012-12-31 12:11:01

I agree with your rant pretty much except the bullying thing. If you're talking about bullying in school-age children, then it is appropriate to step in as adults and stop it. They are children, for chrissakes, and words do hurt children and can do serious harm.
I agree that adults these days seem to have thinner skins than ever, and I wish every adult should just sack up from religitards to gangsters to TV talking heads (but that wouldn't get eyeballs, would it?).

bullying...Posted by Pile on 2013-01-01 23:23:29

I'm not saying bullying is acceptable. What I'm saying is, the campaign to encourage people to not make fun of others is a lost cause. A more effective "anti-bullying" campaign is to encourage people to ignore bullies and not take it personally.

No issue with most of the list, but call your congress-idiot? Gimme a break. I've both called and emailed Senator Cornyn or that as*-hat Rep Lloyd Doggett multiple times, left messages or cordially expressed a concern and requested a response and they NEVER respond. These as*holes don't care one bit. Same sh*t when I lived in Duncan Hunter's district in CA. And our POSident spits on us anyway (not that Romney would have been much different, but he wasn't elected and Barack Obonehead doesn't even pretend to care).

What needs to go in 2013 is the US government - in its current form it can go straight to hell.

And as for being selfish, thanks to the federal govt's desire to rip me off I have cut off any charitable giving and volunteer work. F*ck society - the GD'd as*holes in this world can rot. F*ckin bunch of handout monkey takers, enabled by a bunch of thieving politicians elected by a loser citizenry.

By the way, if you don't like sucky reality TV, turn it off and cancel cable. Making that one go in 2013 is easy.

Deleted posts?Posted by Crackers on 2013-01-08 10:02:45

Why dont you have a BS alert about your deleting legitimate posts? You act as if this site is some base of knowledge, but then you delete posts? may as well be the flippin govt.

HmmmPosted by Crackers on 2013-01-08 10:03:47

Sorry, now it shows up. I refreshed 5 times before. My apologies

Posted by Pile on 2013-01-22 21:43:13

lol no problem

On RealityPosted by The 3rd. on 2013-02-23 08:55:08

The reality of Storage locker type shows, it killed and outlet for people making a legit living. What use to cost a couple hundered on a locker is now a thousand. The people peeps bidding get burned 99% of the time. Next auction there are a dozen more strike it richers waving and bidding on that hidden treasure in every locker. BS I'm not stepping in it, and hope this period of dillusions disapers.

Pursuant to Section 230 of Title 47 of the United States Code (47 USC § 230), BSAlert is a user-contributed editorial web site and does not endorse any specific content, but merely acts as a "sounding board" for the online community. Any and all quoted material is referenced pursuant to "Fair Use" (17 U.S.C. § 107). Like any information resource, use your own judgement and seek out the facts and research and make informed choices.